Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1887-04-14

obseryafisns - fhe aasaaazges 81 oIa
ARe-f iassvssgs Fespie Whs Save
Lived Esmg aa6 Rsamfnea TnKGF

Tsefuiness.
Fra. f1e Hoase yonrnal.i
Who speaks sliRhtinaIY Of tie vsius
u old age7
siE william Tsupls qa0tss With ap-
pg0h9tisa the saying Of an acqaaintance
u his. ITO beid that "a man uuss Be q
mean wretsh who desired 70 live sitter
three score" Bat really this 10 10
ignore al The pleasures, Eses aud advsn
tsRss 90 Be foand 10 plsnty IN ths vale
Of years.
There was nors sense in an old
kFeDeh vgms1-she was not far from
so--of whom il IL told that when on ous
occasion she vas Fuaning ever the cats-
logus II her ailments, her physician
ssld % her. What would yon have,
nadsfaS cannot make ySa young
s2afB."
Il ks0w that. Dootor. she replied.
. y has / want you 10 do IL % help me 20
groz old q lltsls longer"
OF tie nssfalnsss Of old sgs there
cannot be q d0abi. Usefulness Why,
mans work is never done till be dies,
sni Ehsn We fi1d ourselves in the world
Eilbozt the marks Of age upon a. the
natural inference IL that We are left
here with somsthing 10 do. No ace is
assifss, and jast - every day is the best
day IN toe year, % sysry aRs IL tue best
age Of life.
Il Is tFus that old sge is not taken
advantage II a. Il should be. People do
not stndy the art Of being old. aud 90
Eheu they come 10 years let many
chances slip which stheFUise they
might tara 20 the advantage both Of
themselves and their fellows.
Old age has tie defects; 40 one denies
it So has youth and so has middle life.
Bat il has compensations, aud Of all
unreasonable sayings one of the most
unreasonable is tkat there ever comes 9
Il ae, unless By our own fault. when old
age, az an Eastern poet puts it, Glasses
as among things no longer OF use aud
valns." Whes strength fails our spirits
are apt to sink, but they sink without
reason. and the sooner they are brought
ap aRsin 10 the point Of c0ntentment
toe bstter. To despair-to put is on the
lowest possible gEound-bFings no ad
vantage.
Old age is certainly blessing to be
desired aBd sfriven after. In his IA
nous treatise on "A sober Life" Cor
nzrO, a Venetian noblemau, who lived
to be nearly 100, put this in an original
vay, waico We may quote without being
held to indorse his strong form Of
expression. Longevity" he says,
"ought to be highly valued by COED
men. As to others. it is no great mat
ter II il IL not daily priz ID by them siBce
they are q disgrace to mankind, so that
their death is rather Of service 70 the
pablie."
A vii known physician points ont
how foolish il is to imagine that the
period Of cid age is not one TO be desired.
that il is = time Of much WEAKNESS
both of mind and body, aud devoid of
all enjoyment "If attention" he saws,
has been paid to the health during
youth and adult life, 80 that old age is
reached IN eompar ltlvs strength and
vigor, thefe will be muSh enjOymsnt Ia
these latter yeArs." Natural oOnstitu
ton, the circumstances into which a
man is born, as we'll as tue condition
IN der which his life work has TO be
done, havs also their place in the result:
but the laws Of health. as they are better
understood, tend not only to increase OF
years, bat to increase Of happiness.
But what are We to reckon as the
declining period of mans existence
Toe point at which old aga taps Us on
tae shoulder, and says Il comes to keep
as company, varies With every individ.
uai. IL depends q great deal on eircum.
stances, which ere hardly the same il
any two Gases. Some writers have said
that q man is old at 10; other have sci
down 40 a. the nominal standard. Dl
John Gardner, Who hss written or
Longevity" remarks: Icing 0bssEva.
ton has convinced me that 63 is aa ACE
az which the maj lrity of peEs0ns May
| be termed old, and as q general rule W.
may ad pt this as the epoeh of the c0n
m naing decline Of life"
Suppose, then, thai we agree to cal
no man old tail be Is past 63. Let as stI
down tbs names of some of the illustri
Gus people Of the world who have pro
louged their days of asefulsess aftel
that age. We shall make a table o.
them, and begin IL with those who havl
died st 70-shaf is TO say, With those il
whom the springs Of life have not stoo,
still till thsy have had at least sevsI
| years OF old age. Il will be found, how
ever. 70 be far from exhaustive, ans
every reader may ind pleasure il
adding 10 u from his own stock o
Information;
70-Columbu: Lord Chatham; Pc
tsareh; Coperuieus; Spsllanzani
BosTbAave; Gall.
7I-L,nuRas.
73-Chariemagne; samuel Richardson
All u Il smsay; John Locke; Neoser
T3-Charles Darwin; Thor 0aldseh.
ft-Hsndei; Frederick the Cheat; Dr.
Jenrer.
| 75-Haydu; Dugsld Stewart.
/ 70 bossust.
T. homas Telford; Jcseph Banks
Lord Bsaconsdeld.
Is Gsliitu; CoFnEille.
/ ~ lillian Harvey; Robert Stevenson
Henry Cavendish.
sO-Plsto; Wordsworth; Ralph VALID
Emerson; ksat; lsieTS william
Cuiien.
| sl--BndoR; EdSard Youne; Sir EiwaF,
Coke; Lord PAlmerston.
So ArnaRld.
81 wellington; Goethe; Victor Hugo
s4-Noltaire; rallyrsnd; Sir William
Herschel
Soto the Wise; Newton; Benjamin
| Franklin; Jeremy Bsntham
s6-ksrl Russell; Edmund HALEY; Car
isis.
SS-JohR Wesley.
So Michael ADgslo.
So--S5phocles.
So titan.
/ 100 FonieBells.
We may question the utility Of ID
lives OF some OF these people. bat mos
Of them furnish good examples o
asefal Did ace. Il may be said that the
we're exc psionA In living so long, Ia
" Whist TIE best authorities say be true
the exceptions oaght 10 be the peOfI
who dte yonug, and not thOss who pro
long their lives and garry m their worl
till they are old. F-v Of 1s may do
ourselves. like Lord Palmerston. IN on
greatest vie0r ~ 20; or be able, lik
Theirs, 10 rule France at 80; OF hav
any spirit or playing the author hk
Gosshe snd Visitor Hago. when over a
or tef playing tbe musician like Hande
or Haydn, shen yer 20; but by geo.
I - - a